Matty Blog

matty_6.13.09_236 Ventured to Bellingham last weekend, mainly to shoot Myrriah. She's working heavily on her modeling portfolio and luckily she likes my work, so over the past few months we have been working together to give her port a wide variety of styles.

Meet Nancy, an amazing artist local to Bellingham, WA. She specializes in abstract painting. Nancy needed some nice pictures of herself to use when advertising her business and for 'about me' blurbs. When I arrived at her studio, she already had an awesome background setup...

The above picture captured today of my cat, Toby, pretty much sums up my day. We all lazily relaxed and got a few yawns in. Last week when I setup the studio for the first time I stuck a little point and shoot camera with...

The studio is ready for clients! Lisa was so kind as to help me test the newly created "seamless" setup. Seamless, meaning your subject(s) are completely wrapped in a pure white environment, giving the appearance that you are floating in a white abyss - no...

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Here are a few pics from a couple shoots back from a weekend in April. Images courtasy of my good friend, Andy, who is also putting together a promotional video for Matty Photography, which should be out any day, so stay tuned! Andy shadowed me and the models for the weekend and captured some great shots and video for me.

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That was the case for Kacia, a senior at a local Tacoma high school. She had her prom dance the night before, and was out until 4 am, then had to wake up and be ready for our shoot downtown at 8 am! Though her gas tank was on empty, she did a great job convincing the camera otherwise. I can't promise you that I wouldn't be looking like a drunk Steve Buscemi after only 3 or so hours of sleep and got in front of a camera.

IMG_1554 The little 3 year old cutie you see sitting on the rock above is Joanna. She arrived to the shoot shy, holding a stuffed animal, sporting both leopard print shoes and a tiara, and topping off the ensemble with a Dora the Explorer temporary tattoo on her forearm. We spent a few minutes walking around and watching the ducks so that she could get comfortable and warm up to a strange tall man holding a gigantic camera.

matty_4.25.09_295 - Version 2 (1) I had an itch that needed to be scratched for a couple months now, and that itch was shooting a group models in elegant dresses in a classy environment. After weighing the options, we concluded that the Lairmont in Bellingham would be our best bet for making that happen, granted we were in the area already from the morning shoot. Armed with a car full of equipment, the same four models from the dafodill shoot, five makeup/hair artists, one film director shooting behind-the-scenes material, and the Lairmont, I was ready to scratch that itch. All 9 of the girls (model and makeup) headed to the basement of the Lairmont to do there thing. Dana Miller, my makeup/hair supervisor for the shoot, is quite the character. Blunt, in-your-face, sarcastic, and great at what she does... just the way I like 'em. I quickly give Dana the rundown on what kind of look I'm wanting for the models and she's off. I don't have to think about it again, Dana's got it covered.

IMG_0782 The Museum of Glass installed a giant, new exhibit in one of the three water pools. It's composed with hundreds of pieces of glass, all illuminated at night. It took 40 artists over a year to make, quite a sight! If you get a chance, get down there and see it in person.

IMG_0437 - Version 2 (1) I took a trip up to Bellingham this last weekend to prep for a larger shoot I'll be doing up there during the last weekend of April. I had gotten a new lens and was itching to try it out, so I asked Myrriah to do a little quickie shoot while I was in town. It was a relaxed and easy shoot, we shot down at Boulevarde Park. Saw a good spot, threw up a light, and shot her in front of the sunset.

  If you were lucky enough to be in the PNW like myself, you know what a cold, wet, and extremely gusty day it was. Needless to say, part two of my industrial night lights shoot will have to wait for another day. Wind is a camera's worst enemy when attempting long exposures. Instead, I discovered the greenhouse in Wright Park, in down town Tacoma. I had never been there, and to my surprise, the climate controlled building housed a gigantic assortment of colorful flowers in bloom. I don't have a macro lens yet to take perfect macro shots, so my 50mm and 28-135mm lenses had to do. They turned out ok.

IMG_0128 I just picked up the new Canon 5D Mark II, and have been itching to get out and spend some time doing some long exposures of the industrial area lights. I hit up a spot where I have previously shot, but now armed with a 21 megapixel camera, I knew I'd get better results. I'll be shooting the Federal Way side of the lights tomorrow night, which will be a new spot for me. I'll post those pics too if I get anything good.

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Valentine's weekend, I ventured out to the Tacoma industrial area. I love this area as there are an infinite amount of photo possibilities. There are miles of roads, handfuls of old and/or abandoned buildings, rusty equipment, and textures of all kinds that cater to just about any style of photography, from wide angle shots to macros. It is a graveyard for industrial equipment and the unwanted things that are simply too large to keep around. You never know what you'll stumble across, I walked by an boat anchor the size of my car.

It was a pretty brisk Saturday, I made my way through the area swiftly as the cold bit at my bare hands. It was one of those days that I wanted to spend hours wandering around and taking a wide variety of shots and changing lenses, but it just got uncomfortable after a few minutes outside the comfort of my car. Days like that make you want the summer weather here just that much faster.

IMG_0900 Lisa and I braved the cold and wind this last Saturday in Tacoma. We shot in two locations, downtown and out by a park near the Narrows. We were forced to limit each location to about 30 minutes as feet and hands were numb, and all we could think about was the warm car. We had great (lucky) timing with the tide and sunset, allowing for us to walk out to the piers, making a great setting. Where Lisa is standing, she would be completely under water at high tide.

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This is the third and last set of photos taken the weekend of Jan. 2nd and 3rd. Mandy and I decided on a very cool spot for our shoot, an underground location in Bellingham, WA. It was not a heated space, so it was as cold as it was outside. And yes, if you recall, it was snowing everyday that week, so it was in the 30's where we were shooting. Mandy did a great job posing even though she was most likely going into shock from hypothermia. :)

We shot a few photos at this location for Jolaina's shoot for her senior pics. I thought it would be great for a themed shoot and to get a lot more creative with the space. Given the old, dusty, brick setting, Mandy had a great idea to do a vampire theme. Since it was going to be a very dark and fitting setting for such a theme, we went for it. And by viewing the gallery, you will most likely agree it fit right in.

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I shot Myrriah directly after wrapping Jolaina's shoot, and I loved the backdrops from Jolaina's set so much I decided to use most them for Myrriah. Once again, I had the great hair and makeup artist, Dana Miller, doing a fabulous job on the models.

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Jolaina was a great subject to photograph! She was up in Bellingham to finish off her senior photo shoot, and with the weather being so cold and nasty, we shot at a few really excellent indoor locations. Along with a couple casual outfits, we shot her in a beautiful dress she will be wearing to prom, as well as her jersey. You'll notice in Jolaina's gallery a few silly photos of her with some other girls who accompanied her to the shoot. I couldn't resist and threw them into a few shots for a break and a good laugh. Thanks to all who participated and assisted on this very fun shoot!

A special thanks to Dana Miller, for doing a fantastic job on Jolaina's hair and makeup, and Andy for access to the shooting locations.